Three Ways to Get Your Organization in the Big Data Game

When it comes to Big Data, your organization could be missing out on key advantages to find and keep customers. Businesses today are producing and processing masses of data — at breadths, depths and velocities never seen before — and they’re using the information collected for competitive advantage with customers. But many organizations might not fully recognize the value of all the data being managed. In fact, only 37 percent of IT and business managers are familiar with the Big Data concept, according to CompTIA’s recent “Big Data Insights and Opportunities” study.

Here are three ways your organization might want to get into the Big Data game:

1. Customer segmentation: Businesses can mine real-time information collected from customers, such as who shops where and what they buy, and use that data to divide consumers into groups based on likelihood of purchase, probability of switching services, or any other action. This segmentation can be used to target marketing campaigns more specifically, focusing on the needs or wants of consumers in particular groups.

2. Customer patterns: Big Data analytics can give organizations insight into how customers are engaging with business: what and how often they’re buying products or services; whether they’re using additional services; how often they’re calling or emailing for support; and what they’re saying about the business on social media outlets. This insight allows organizations to determine patterns, giving businesses a better picture of individual customers’ value, says Eric de Roos of business intelligence vendor MicroStrategy.

3. Product enhancements: Armed with a wealth of information about consumer wants, needs, preferences and behavior, businesses can then improve products to make them more useful and appealing to their customers. For example, Nest Labs now makes a smart thermostat that promotes energy conservation. It uses data to predict when people are home and how they are likely to heat or cool their home, helping them save money through efficiency.

How does your organization use Big Data? What other advantages are you seeing from using Big Data analytics?